CHAPTER 46
"Which is good" Windblade said as she headed back to the lounge, a new high-grade cube at servo, "it's that energon in the fridge will not run out that soon…"
She didn't get the chance to add anything else. As she stepped in the room, she realized that the ex-bounty hunter was no longer here. The sofa where Fracture had been a few moments earlier was left empty.
"Fracture?" She called.
No one answered. It got the flier surprised. She put her cube down on the table, before looking for the purple bot throughout the residence.
"Fracture?" She repeated, calling him again.
No answer.
Windblade frowned. Had he left? But there'd been no one outside, neither in the swimming-pool or in the jacuzzi. Was he in his room?
She went upstairs, a slow step. At the floor, there was nobody in the halls though the door of Fracture's room was left opened. She froze, wondering if she shall go back to the lounge. Maybe the Decepticon had something else to do and she would just bother him? She let out a sigh but, in the end, she just stepped in the room, checking what he was doing.
He was inside, on his berth. Windblade was about to speak up but Fracture didn't even react when she entered.
He leaned over his Pad. As Windblade stepped closer, she noticed an unreadable expression on the purple bot's face. His optics were widened, his mouth was left open, not tearing his optics off the screen…
She didn't understand.
"What's going on?" She calmly asked.
He didn't answer. She noticed that his servos were slightly shaking. As if he was about to lose control in any moment…
Yet when Fracture went angry, he didn't hold back. He shouted, he punched…but now…
On his face, a shocked expression. It got him paralyzed.
"But…What's wrong?" Windblade repeated.
Something on the Pad?
Windblade was about to check the screen but Fracture violently moved back. Windblade let out a frown at his behaviour. The purple bot glared back at her, silently ordering her not to keep on.
"Primus! Will you tell me what's wrong?" She cried out.
"It's not your business!"
"It's not my business? But just look at yourself! You are so pale! There is something wrong! It's obvious!"
Fracture kept his dentas gritted. This time, his entire body went to tremble. Windblade wasn't impressed. It was definitely about the Pad. Else he wouldn't react as such.
"…Let me see…"
"No"
"Fracture, let me see! If there is something wrong, you can't remain like this!"
It felt so strange…Before, she wouldn't have tried to help him up. Fracture's face twisted. He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, as if he wanted to protest…but in the end, he just let out a sigh. A resigned expression, he grabbed the Pad and handed it over to her.
Windblade took it and put it over her knees. The screen was on standby mode. Fracture clicked it to get it unlocked. Then he touched an icon, making a webpage appear.
The first thing Windblade had been seeing was a picture of Fracture. A picture where he smiled, a malevolent expression. Windblade frowned, not understanding what it meant. She leaned over and started reading it in a whisper.
Fracture remained quiet. After a few minutes of silence, he spoke again.
"…Someone posted it…on an official blog…"
Windblade hadn't finished. She kept reading. Throughout the reading, she was gradually struck with horror and disbelief. Her reading' rhythm went slower. More she kept on, more it went difficult to read.
But she kept on. She kept reading until the end.
As soon as she finished, she was left dumbfounded, speechless. She didn't know what to say. She didn't dare look back at Fracture. Yet she should.
"…How long?" She ended up by asking.
"…I don't know. I received a message telling me my name had been mentioned somewhere" He said.
"But it isn't only your name! It's an entire article about you!"
His fists clenched. Windblade took the Pad again, reading some parts again. She started with the title.
Here is a bot deserving the death sentence. Yet he is still out free. Is the Cybertronian justice a flawed justice?
Even if an entire article about Fracture took her aback, the beginning of it was entirely true. Bounty hunter, responsible of the deaths of innocents, 250 bounties he'd gained…
250…it made her go still.
She focused back on the purple bot. She'd never known about the exact number of bounties he'd taken for money.
Shock and reality about Fracture's crimes went back to the surface, while she'd slightly forgot it during these last days. It violently struck her again. At this moment, she hadn't thought about the Decepticon from the past, who'd been their enemy once.
The number of victims with a bounty on their heads was quoted.
Pictures of them were put online. Her spark ached as soon as she caught sight of pictures about bots, femmes, children…
All of them killed by Fracture.
"…Have you killed children as well?" She asked him, her voice off.
Fracture took a time before he gave her a nod, a dark expression.
Disgust she'd always felt toward him took over her again.
After all, Decepticons were more than able to commit these crimes…even the most atrocious ones…
She kept reading, focusing on parts that'd struck her the most.
Even if the beginning was full of truth…she wasn't that sure afterward.
The article accused Fracture of having maintained some relationships with different individuals before killing them and stealing their money. He was nicknamed a 'sparkless black widow'.
She turned back to him.
"…Did you do this?"
"No" Fracture answered. "It's false"
After all, he'd killed children…why would he hide about the fact that he'd murdered bots for their money?
But Fracture sounded genuine…Windblade wasn't sure if she shall believe him.
The article accused him of dissecting bots and keeping their parts as trophies…
At this part, she asked him for some other explanations.
"…I'm not Lockdown" Fracture coldly retorted.
"You wanted to be like him once"
"I was a bounty hunter! But not the point of being as depraved as he was!"
His voice went shaky. Windblade shook her head but didn't answer.
Then the last part was completely false, unlike its beginning.
He was accused of having eliminated his subordinates.
Divebomb and Airazor's names were mentioned…The article stated that Fracture had killed them as soon as they'd become useless to him.
Their pictures were shown.
Divebomb and Airazor smiling…
Fracture slowly stood up. As Windblade kept reading that part, she kept the Pad against her chassis. This time, he didn't hold back any longer. She was afraid that he would break it under rage. She was right as the purple bot went over to the nightstand and punched it hard, the lamp falling down and crashing onto the floor.
He turned back to her, fury burning up in his optics.
"…That's just some horrible lies!" He spat.
"The article has still some truth in" Windblade replied, a low tone.
"Lies filled with some half-truths are the best out of all! It's well-known!"
Fracture violently kicked the nightstand hard. It collapsed.
Windblade didn't know how she should react to the article. Even if there were some lies in this article, she didn't manage to feel sorry for him. These bounties he'd got killed…his war crimes…
She couldn't afford to let it slide.
If an article was published about him…She couldn't help but think it was deserved.
"…You killed people" Windblade said.
"I know!" Fracture spat. "I killed! I committed these acts! That's what you wanted to hear, right?"
He paused, trying to calm down.
"I killed during my hunts! I killed bounties! If Drift was still around, he would confirm it!"
"You are…a monster" Windblade replied, a robotic tone.
"You didn't know? You didn't already know that I was a monster?"
She cowered.
Fracture was a Decepticon…A bounty hunter…
A murderer…
And they were alone in the residence. Windblade tried to get reassured, thinking she would be more than able to defend herself.
Fracture touched his arms, trying to get his trembling appeased.
"…I was a bounty hunter. I killed. I killed bounties. The article is right about it. But I never collected parts of bots like Lockdown did…I never murdered my relationships…Only one ever mattered to me…"
He got his face covered.
"…I never murdered Divebomb and Airazor"
She knew it.
She knew he hadn't killed them.
She knew he'd ended up by getting disgusted with Lockdown.
But…She couldn't forget the rest.
Fracture was still a criminal.
Windblade bit her lip, trying to reflect on how she should react to this.
She focused back on the Pad.
"…Is there any way to report that article? Or deleting it?"
"I tried to report it. I tried to hack it. I can't…"
"Maybe you can get the page blocked…people wouldn't see it"
She didn't really do it for him…but if Night ever discovered it…
"…I'll try" Fracture said, a low tone.
Windblade nodded and painfully stood up, leaving the room.
She didn't want to remain here any longer. She didn't want to stay in his room.
She tried to convince herself that Fracture had changed…his acts were part of the past…he wouldn't do it again…
But…these acts couldn't be erased…they were unforgivable.
And Windblade wondered if they'd been right…if they shouldn't have got him locked instead of letting him run free.
